Norwegian support strengthens disaster management in Bangladesh

Dhaka - To further the reach of community-level disaster risk reduction and adaptation to climate change, the Government of Norway has committed 100 million Norwegian Kroner (USD 16 million) towards the Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme for 2010-2014.

The Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme - a joint initiative of the Government of Bangladesh and UNDP supported by the UK Department for International Development, the European Union, the Government of Sweden, the Government of Australia and now the Government of Norway represents a harmonized approach to supporting the Government of Bangladesh in strengthening the disaster management system to reduce unacceptable risks and improve response and recovery activities by adopting a comprehensive risk management culture.

H.E. Ms. Ingebjørg Støfring, Ambassador of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Bangladesh and Mr. Stefan Priesner, UNDP Bangladesh Resident Representative a.i. signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides.

Mr. Stefan Priesner, UNDP Bangladesh Resident Representative a.i. stated that "Norway joins an established partnership between the Government of Bangladesh, UNDP and now five development partners working collectively to reduce Bangladesh's vulnerability to disasters and the adverse impacts of climate change through a nationally lead process".

Ms. Ingebjørg Støfring, Norwegian Ambassador to Bangladesh said, "We are aware that Bangladesh has a lot to offer in terms of lessons learnt on prevention, adaptation and management of natural disasters. In this regard, the Norwegian Government would like to learn more from Bangladesh which can be fed into strengthening regional partnerships dealing with emergencies, and through their physical presence, help to prevent humanitarian crises."

Strengthened disaster response and management capacity is an important national objective for Bangladesh, and the Programme is designed to achieve this goal through interventions in six key areas, which comprise a focus on marginalized and vulnerable communities in urban centres and in 2,000 Union Parishads of 40 high-risk districts of Bangladesh. It will make major contributions to policy advancements and to the development of national risk reduction capacities in 11 ministries to implement a range of risk reduction initiatives. It seeks to reduce vulnerabilities and to empower rural and urban communities to plan for and adapt to hazard risks, including from the impacts of climate change.

The Programme, which will continue until December 2014, has a total budget of USD 69.47 million (approximately Tk. 464 crore). Of that, USD 20 million (approximately Tk. 137 crore) is contributed by the UK Department for International Development, USD 17 million (approximately Tk. 116 crore) from the European Union, USD 16 million (approximately Tk. 116 crore) from the Government of Norway, USD 7 million (approximately Tk. 48 crore) from the Government of Sweden, USD 1.84 million (approximately Tk. 12 crore) from the Government of Australia and USD750,000 (approximately Tk. 5.15 crore) from the Government of Bangladesh, in addition to UNDP's own resources of USD 6 million (approximately Tk. 41 crore).